Entity resolution incorporating data from various data sources which uses tokens and normalizes records

ABSTRACT

A pair of records is tokenized to form a normalized representation of an entity represented by each record. The tokens are correlated to a machine learning system by determining whether a learned resolution already exists for the two entities. If not, the normalized records are compared to generate a comparison measure to determine whether the records match. The normalized records can also be used to perform a web search and web search results can be normalized and used as additional records for matching. When a match is found, the records are updated to indicate that they match, and the match is provided to the machine learning system to update the learned resolutions.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application is a continuation of and claims priority of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 14/457,317, filed Aug. 12, 2014, the contentof which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

An organization may use one or more computer systems. The differentcomputer systems may be used for different purposes, by differentpeople, and therefore each system may contain its own data.

Some such computer systems include business systems. Business systemscan include, for instance, customer relations management (CRM) systems,enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, line-of-business (LOB)systems, among others. These systems can store data records (such asentities) that represent items within the business system, and they canrun business processes, workflows, or other business logic on the datarecords so that users can perform the tasks or activities in order tocarry out the function of the business.

Entities can represent a wide variety of different types of thingswithin a business system. They can be objects with callable functions,or they can be even more rich structures. In addition, they canrepresent a wide variety of different types of things. For instance, acustomer entity can represent and describe a customer. A vendor entitycan represent and describe a vendor. A product entity can represent anddescribe a product. A quote entity can represent and describe a quote. Abusiness opportunity entity can represent and describe a businessopportunity. These are examples only, and a wide variety of otherentities can be used as well.

The data (e.g., entities or other business records) or other informationcan exist in disparate applications sourced for different businessfunctions. Some of those functions can include, for instance, sales,marketing, customer service, e-commerce, among others. Because each ofthese different applications or systems has its own data, the data for asingle entity may be different, depending upon the application in whichit is used. For instance, the data representing customer A in a salessystem may be different from the data representing customer A in alicensing system. In fact, it is not uncommon for these types ofdifferent representations to exist in many (perhaps 40-50 or more)different systems for a single enterprise or organization. This canpresent certain challenges.

For instance, it may be that a person from customer A contacts acustomer service representative for an organization. The customerservice representative may reside in some country where customer A doesnot have a large presence, and may not know that customer A is theorganization's highest paying customer, because that information isstored in a sales system, while the customer service representative isusing a customer service system. However, this type of information couldbe very useful to the customer service representative.

The problem can be exacerbated because many organizations havecomplicated relationships with one another. For instance, customer A mayhave a financial relationship with the organization, as well as acontractual or transactional relationship. The information needed in thefinancial relationship may be different from the information needed inthe contractual relationship. Similarly, customer A may have certainusage patterns with the organization that are not captured in either thefinancial or contractual contexts. In some cases, customer A may be botha customer and a vendor of the same organization. All of these types ofcomplicated relationships can make it even more difficult to understand,in a comprehensive sense, how customer A relates to the organizationthat deploys the business system.

Some work has been done in the area of entity resolution. This work hasincluded attempts to perform object matching, duplicate identification,among other things. These entity resolution tasks are used in an attemptto identify different entities in the computer system that may bereferring to the same real-world item. For instance, where a customerhas a legal name of “ACME, Inc.” that term may be used to identify thecustomer in the licensing system. However, where the customer also has adifferent (e.g., popular) name, such as “The ACME Company”, that phrasemay be used to identify the customer in the sales or customer servicesystems. Current work that is being done to perform entity resolutionincludes rule-based methods, pair-wise classification, variousclustering approaches and different forms of probabilistic inference.

The discussion above is merely provided for general backgroundinformation and is not intended to be used as an aid in determining thescope of the claimed subject matter.

SUMMARY

A pair of records is tokenized to form a normalized representation of anentity represented by each record. The tokens are correlated to amachine learning system by determining whether a learned resolutionalready exists for the two entities. If not, the normalized records arecompared to generate a comparison measure to determine whether therecords match. The normalized records can also be used to perform a websearch and web search results can be normalized and used as additionalrecords for matching. When a match is found, the records are updated toindicate that they match, and the match is provided to the machinelearning system to update the learned resolutions.

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription. This Summary is not intended to identify key features oressential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended tobe used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subjectmatter. The claimed subject matter is not limited to implementationsthat solve any or all disadvantages noted in the background.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1A and 1B (collectively referred to as FIG. 1) show a blockdiagram of one example of an entity resolution architecture.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing one example of an entity matchingsystem in more detail.

FIGS. 3A and 3B (collectively referred to as FIG. 3) show a flow diagramillustrating one example of the operation of the architecture shown inFIG. 1, and the entity matching system shown in FIG. 2, in matchingentity records.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing one example of the architecture shownin FIG. 1, deployed in a cloud computing architecture.

FIGS. 5-7 show various examples of mobile devices.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of one example of a computing environment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present discussion will proceed with respect to entity resolution ofcustomer entities. For instance, there may be two different entities ina computing system, both of which represent the same customer. However,the two different entities may include slightly different (or evenvastly different) information. The present discussion will proceed withrespect to a description of how the two customer entities can beresolved and identified as actually referring to the same customer. Itwill be appreciated, of course, that the entity resolution can beperformed on any types of entities in a computer system, and thecustomer entity is only one example. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of oneexample of an entity resolution architecture 100. Architecture 100illustratively includes business system 102, entity resolution system104 (which is shown separate from business system 102, but which can bepart of business system 102 as well), machine learning system 106,record update component 108, a set of records (e.g., a graph of entitynodes connected by relationship connections) 110, a search engine 112that accesses web content 114, processors or servers 140, user interfacecomponents 142, and it can include other items 144 as well. Architecture100 also shows that, in one example, business system 102 generates userinterface displays 116 with user input mechanisms 118 that can beaccessed for interaction by user 120. User 120 can illustrativelyinteract with the user input mechanisms 118 in order to control andmanipulate business system 102. Architecture 100 also illustrates that,in one example, the records 110 can also be stored in, or otherwiseaccessible by, business system 102. Therefore, user 120 canillustratively perform a search against records 110 in order to get acomprehensive view of the various entities and relationships withinbusiness system 102.

Business system 102 can illustratively include a sales system 122,procurement system 124, licensing system 126, and it can include otherdata sources 128. Sales system 122 can be used by sales users to conductsales activities. Procurement system 124 can be used by users to conductprocurement activities. Licensing system 126 can be used to performlicensing activities. All of these activities can be performed withrespect to the organization that is using business system 102. Thesetypes of activities can be performed by a variety of different users.

In addition, each system 122-128 can have its own data representing thevarious other organizations, individuals, products, etc. (e.g., theentities) that interact with the organization that deploys businesssystem 102. For instance, sales system 122 may have customer data thatrepresents the sales customers of the organization that deploys businesssystem 102. The sales customers are illustratively represented by acustomer entity within the sales system 122. The customer entity insales system 122 may describe the contacts, address, and otherinformation for the customer in the sales context.

At the same time, the organization that uses business system 102 mayalso have licensing agreements with the same customer. In that case,licensing system 126 illustratively includes an entity that representsthe customer, in the licensing context. Therefore, the contacts,relationship information and other information corresponding to thecustomer entity in the licensing system 126 may be different than thatfor the same customer in sales system 122.

By way of example, the customer information for the customer entity insales system 110 may include a gross annual sales number for the givenconsumer, indicating how large the customer is with respect to theorganization deploying system 102. It may also include a customer namethat is a popular name, instead of the customer's legal name However,licensing system 126 may not have that same type of information.Instead, the entity representing the customer in licensing system 126may have the customer's legal name and may have other informationrelated to licensing. Therefore, a user 120 who is in contact with thecustomer through licensing system 126 may have no idea that the customeris a very large customer of the organization, because that informationis in sales system 122.

Before describing the system in more detail, an overview of someportions of the system will first be provided. In one example, salesrecords 130 (including the entities from sales system 122), procurementrecords 132 (including the entities from procurement system 124),licensing records 134 (including the entities from licensing system 126)and other records 136 (including the entities from other data sources128) are illustratively output as a record set 138 that is provided toentity resolution system 104. Entity resolution system 104illustratively resolves the various entities to identify which entitiesin the set of input records 138 from business system 102 actually referto the same customer. They can do this by correlating the records topreviously learned resolutions 140, and using search results from searchengine 112 that searches web content 114. The results of the entityresolution are provided to record update component 108 that updates therecords 110 (e.g., a graph of related entities) 110. The records 110 canalso be stored within, or accessible by, business system 102. Therefore,when user 120 accesses records 110 to obtain a customer entity for agiven customer, the user illustratively obtains a comprehensive view forthat customer, because the customer entity in records 110 will includeall of the information for that customer from the various entityrepresentations of that customer in the various systems and data sources122-128.

Entity resolution system 104, itself, illustratively includes partitioncomponent 146 that partitions the input record set 138 into a set ofblocks 148. System 104 also illustratively includes processors orservers 147 and an entity matching system 150 that includes a pluralityof different instances of entity matching components 152. Each instanceof an entity matching component 152 operates on a separate record block148 and identifies records within that record block that are referringto the same customer. Each entity matching component 152 provides a setof matching results 154 that indicate which of the records actuallymatch and refer to the same entity, and which do not. The match results154 are illustratively provided to machine learning system 106 whichuses them to update learned resolutions 140. Match results 154 are alsoprovided to record update component 108. Record update component 108then obtains all of the information from both of the matching recordsand updates records 110 so that the entity node in the graph contains asuperset of the information from both records that were just analyzed.Next time a user 120 accesses that node, the user will thus have a morecomprehensive view of the node (e.g., the customer).

A more detailed description of an entity matching component 152 will nowbe provided. FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of a more detailed view of oneexample of an entity matching component 152. It will be appreciated thatan instance of entity matching component 152 operates on the records ofeach block 148. It matches pairs of records in each block. Therefore,FIG. 2 shows that entity matching component 152 has chosen a firstrecord 160 and a second record 162. Entity matching component 152 alsoincludes tokenizers 164 and 166 (which can also be a single tokenizerinstead of different tokenizers) which normalize the records 160 and 162to obtain corresponding entity tokens 168 and 170. Entity matchingcomponent 152 also includes record matcher 172 that can operate eitheron the records 160-162, themselves, or the tokenized (or normalized)records 168-170. Record matcher 172 can include vector generator 175,threshold component 177, weighting component 179, or other items 181.Record matcher 172 can determine, based on the records themselves or theentity tokens, whether the two records match (and actually refer to thesame entity, in this example, the same customer). In doing so, recordmatcher 172 can correlate the matching to already-learned resolutions140 and can consider structured and unstructured data such as web searchresults 174-176 that are generated based on each of the entity tokens168-170. Record matcher 172 illustratively outputs the match results 154for the pair of records 160-162 that are being processed, to indicatewhether they match.

FIGS. 3A and 3B (collectively referred to as FIG. 3) show a flow diagramillustrating one example of the operation of architecture 100 inresolving entities in the input record set 138. Partition component 146first receives the input record set 138. This is indicated by block 180in FIG. 3. This can be done in a wide variety of ways. For instance,business system 102, or entity resolution system 104, can include acrawler that intermittently crawls the various systems 122-128 inbusiness system 102 to obtain newly added or revised records. Crawlingthe data sources to obtain the input record set 138 is indicated byblock 182. Of course, the systems 122-128, themselves, can provide therecords 138 as well. The records can be obtained in a wide variety ofother ways, and this is indicated by block 184.

Partition component 146 then partitions the input record set 138 intoblocks based on partition criteria. This is indicated by block 186. Forinstance, where the records correspond to customers in business system102, then partition component 146 can partition the input record set 138based upon the geographic location identified for the customer entity inthose records. This may be helpful, because if two customers withrelatively similar records are located at the same geographic location,or a very similar one, then the records are likely referring to the samecustomer. Partitioning the records based on geographical location isindicated by block 188.

However, the records can be partitioned based upon a wide variety ofother partitioning criteria as well. For instance, they can bepartitioned based upon the department identifier 190 associated with therecords. They can be partitioned based on a whole host of other criteria192, and the particular criteria that are used to partition the recordsets may vary based upon application or based upon the type of entitythat is being resolved, or for other reasons. For instance, if theentity is a customer entity, the partitioning criteria may begeographical location or other criteria. If the entity is a productentity, then the partitioning criteria may be entirely different.

In any case, partition component 146 partitions the input record set 138into a set of record blocks 148. Each block 148 illustratively includesa set of records 194.

Each record 160-162 illustratively includes an entity identifier. In theexample where the record represents a customer, the entity identifiermay be the customer name in the record. Of course, where the recordrepresents a different type of entity, then the entity identifier may bea different identifier, such as a part number, a product name, etc. Eachof the records 160-162 also illustratively include a number of differentattributes. They are illustrated in FIG. 2 as attributes 1-N. Theattributes may also vary based upon the particular type of entity. Forinstance, if the entity is a customer, then the attributes may includethe customer address, primary contact, board of directors, sales figuresfor the customer, etc. However, if the record is representing adifferent type of entity, then the attributes may be entirely different.

In one example, the records 194 in each block are then processed throughentity resolution system 104, using distributed processing, in parallel.They can be processed synchronously or asynchronously. In such anexample, system 104 illustratively launches an instance of entitymatching component 152 for each of the different blocks 148. Thus,processing with respect to the remainder of FIG. 3 will be describedwith respect to a given instance of entity matching component 152processing records 194 for a given block 148. However, it will beappreciated that the same or similar processing can be performed for therecords 194 in each of the other blocks 148 as well.

Entity matching component 152 first selects a pair of records 194 fromits corresponding block. This is indicated by block 196 in FIG. 3. Thetokenizers 164-166 in entity matching component 152 then normalize thedata by generating a normalized token 168-170 for each record. This isindicated by block 198. This can be done in a wide variety of ways. Forinstance, the tokenizers 164-166 can match the schemas of the records162 in the corresponding record pair. This is indicated by block 200. Ifthe schemas do not match, then tokenizers 164-166 can scan the recordand identify various properties (or attributes) in each of the records160-162 that fit in a normalized form. For instance, the tokenizer canlocate address information in the record and place in an address fieldof the normalized form. The same can be done for other properties orattributes of the record. This is indicated by block 202. Tokenizers164-166 can normalize the attributes of the records 160-162 in otherways as well, and this is indicated by block 204.

Once the tokenizers have generated the normalized form of the record (asthe entity tokens 168-170), record matcher 172 accesses the learnedresolutions 140 that have already been learned by machine learningsystem 106 (which may be a supervised learning system) to determinewhether the corresponding tokens have already been resolved. This isindicated by block 206 in FIG. 3. If so, then record matcher 172 outputsthe match results 154 for the records 160-162, using the already-learnedresolution. This is indicated by blocks 208 and 210 in FIG. 3.

However, if there is no existing resolution for the two records, thenrecord matcher 172 compares the normalized form of the records (e.g.,the entity tokens 168-170) to generate a comparison measure indicativeof how similar the two tokens are. This is indicated by blocks 212 and214 in FIG. 3. In one example, vector generator 175 in record matcher172 does this by generating a comparison vector of similarity scores foreach attribute 1-N in the normalized form. In one example, vectorgenerator 175 compares each corresponding attribute to determine whetherit holds an identical value. If it does, then the vector value,corresponding to that attribute, indicates that a match has occurred. Ifnot, the vector value indicates that the attributes do not match. Inanother example, however, vector generator 175 does not only look for anidentical match of a given pair of attributes, but it can determine howsimilar they are. For instance, if they differ by one letter, onecharacter, or have other slight differences, then vector generator 175may include a high similarity score as the vector value for that set ofattributes. If they vary drastically, then the similarity score may belower. Record matcher 172 can do this for each pair of correspondingattributes 1-N in the records themselves or in normalized form of thetwo records 160-162 (e.g., in tokens 168-170) to generate the comparisonvector. Generating a comparison vector is indicated by block 216 in FIG.3. Of course, record matcher 172 can generate a comparison measureindicative of how the various attributes of the two records compare toone another in other ways as well, and this is indicated by block 218.

Threshold component t177 in record matcher 172 then determines whetherthe comparison measure meets a threshold value. If the thresholdcomponent 177 determines that the comparison measure does meet thethreshold value, then the two records are identified as a match. This isindicated by block 220 in FIG. 3. If not, however, then weightingcomponent 179 in record matcher 172 accesses machine learning system 106to obtain attribute weights. This is indicated by block 222. Forinstance, it may be that some of the attributes are more important thanothers. In that case, even if all or a majority of the attributes do notmatch, the matching attributes may outweigh the non-matching attributes.The weights can be learned by machine learning system 106, and revisedover time. Therefore, in one example, weighting component 179 obtainsthe latest attribute weights from machine learning system 106 andcombines the weighted matching attributes to obtain a pairwise matchresult indicative of the combination of weighted attribute matches. Thisis indicated by block 224.

Again, threshold component 177 determines whether the pairwise matchresult meets a threshold value. This is indicated by block 226. If so,then record matcher 172 identifies the two records as matching. This isindicated by block 228. It provides the match to machine learning system106 so that machine learning system 106 can update the learnedresolutions 140. This is indicated by block 230 in FIG. 3. It alsoprovides the match results to record update component 108 which updatesrecords 110 with the resolved match. This is indicated by block 232.Entity matching component 152 then determines whether there are morerecords to consider in its corresponding block 148. This is indicated byblock 234. If so, processing reverts to block 196 where another pair ofrecords is selected from the block.

If, at block 226, threshold component 177 determines that the tworecords do not match, even with the weighted attributes, then recordmatcher 172 determines that there has been no learned resolution ormatch for these two records. This is indicated by block 236. It thendetermines whether additional matching is to be conducted for this pairof records. This is indicated by block 238. This can be done in a widevariety of different ways. For instance, if additional web resultmatching has not been performed yet, then this may be desired. However,if a fairly exhaustive matching operation has already been performed,then it may be that no further matching is desired, and processing againcontinues at block 234.

Assuming, at block 238, that additional matching is to be attempted,then record matcher 174 sends the entity tokens 168-170 (or a subset ofthose tokens or the raw records 160-162) to search engine 112. Searchengine 112 uses these items to perform a search against a variety ofdifferent kinds of web content 114. Sending the entity token or recordscorresponding to an unmatched record to the search engine 112 isindicated by block 240 in FIG. 3. Search engine 112 returns the resultsof the search, and receiving those results at entity matching component152 is indicated by block 242. Record matcher 172 selects the top Nresults as additional records in its corresponding block. The number Ncan be preset, fixed or dynamic. It can be determined empirically,heuristically or otherwise. It can vary based on entity type or based onother information. Record matcher 172 then adds the top N results to theblock for further processing. This is indicated by block 244. Processingthen reverts to block 196 where another pair of records from the blockare selected for processing. In this way, the web results are treatedjust the same as the other records 194 in the record block correspondingto this instance of the entity matching component 152. Therefore, theyare selected, normalized, and matched against one another as describedabove.

It can thus be seen that the entity resolution system 104 bringstogether a variety of different approaches for performing entityresolution, and augments them with web result metadata and machinelearning approaches. It can use distributed processing (such as mapreduce jobs) with record linking to link records referring to the sameentity. It can incorporate both structured and unstructured data, aswell as web search results. It allows customers to easily surfacevaluable information to gain various insights across all phases of animplementation lifecycle for a given customer or other entity, and itenables informed customer management decisions and more predictable andsuccessful implementations of software systems (such as businesssoftware systems).

Because two different entities, used in two different contexts, caninclude valuable, cross-context, information, it can be highlybeneficial to resolve the two different entities as identifying the samereal world item. Obtaining a single customer view, for instance, resultsin improved knowledge of customer behaviors, and can be used to improvecustomer relationships. It can also be used to improve customerretention in cross-selling activities. It also improves the performanceof the system itself. For instance, it surfaces a more comprehensiveview of a single entity, more quickly. This results in more efficientprocessing, thus reducing the processing overhead on the system. A usermay not need to search multiple different systems, within a businesssystem, in order to obtain a comprehensive view of an entity. Instead,that entity can be already generated so that, when a user pulls up therelevant entity, the comprehensive view is provided, instead of apartial view that may be provided by any of the individual systems.

The present discussion has mentioned processors and servers. In oneembodiment, the processors and servers include computer processors withassociated memory and timing circuitry, not separately shown. They arefunctional parts of the systems or devices to which they belong and areactivated by, and facilitate the functionality of the other componentsor items in those systems.

Also, a number of user interface displays have been discussed. They cantake a wide variety of different forms and can have a wide variety ofdifferent user actuatable input mechanisms disposed thereon. Forinstance, the user actuatable input mechanisms can be text boxes, checkboxes, icons, links, drop-down menus, search boxes, etc. They can alsobe actuated in a wide variety of different ways. For instance, they canbe actuated using a point and click device (such as a track ball ormouse). They can be actuated using hardware buttons, switches, ajoystick or keyboard, thumb switches or thumb pads, etc. They can alsobe actuated using a virtual keyboard or other virtual actuators. Inaddition, where the screen on which they are displayed is a touchsensitive screen, they can be actuated using touch gestures. Also, wherethe device that displays them has speech recognition components, theycan be actuated using speech commands.

A number of data stores have also been discussed. It will be noted theycan each be broken into multiple data stores. All can be local to thesystems accessing them, all can be remote, or some can be local whileothers are remote. All of these configurations are contemplated herein.

Also, the figures show a number of blocks with functionality ascribed toeach block. It will be noted that fewer blocks can be used so thefunctionality is performed by fewer components. Also, more blocks can beused with the functionality distributed among more components.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of architecture 100, shown in FIG. 1, exceptthat its elements are disposed in a cloud computing architecture 500.Cloud computing provides computation, software, data access, and storageservices that do not require end-user knowledge of the physical locationor configuration of the system that delivers the services. In variousembodiments, cloud computing delivers the services over a wide areanetwork, such as the internet, using appropriate protocols. Forinstance, cloud computing providers deliver applications over a widearea network and they can be accessed through a web browser or any othercomputing component. Software or components of architecture 100 as wellas the corresponding data, can be stored on servers at a remotelocation. The computing resources in a cloud computing environment canbe consolidated at a remote data center location or they can bedispersed. Cloud computing infrastructures can deliver services throughshared data centers, even though they appear as a single point of accessfor the user. Thus, the components and functions described herein can beprovided from a service provider at a remote location using a cloudcomputing architecture. Alternatively, they can be provided from aconventional server, or they can be installed on client devicesdirectly, or in other ways.

The description is intended to include both public cloud computing andprivate cloud computing. Cloud computing (both public and private)provides substantially seamless pooling of resources, as well as areduced need to manage and configure underlying hardware infrastructure.

A public cloud is managed by a vendor and typically supports multipleconsumers using the same infrastructure. Also, a public cloud, asopposed to a private cloud, can free up the end users from managing thehardware. A private cloud may be managed by the organization itself andthe infrastructure is typically not shared with other organizations. Theorganization still maintains the hardware to some extent, such asinstallations and repairs, etc.

In the example shown in FIG. 4, some items are similar to those shown inFIG. 1 and they are similarly numbered. FIG. 4 specifically shows thatsystems 102, 104, 106, 108 and 112 can be located in cloud 502 (whichcan be public, private, or a combination where portions are public whileothers are private). Therefore, user 120 uses a user device 504 toaccess those systems through cloud 502.

FIG. 4 also depicts another example of a cloud architecture. FIG. 4shows that it is also contemplated that some elements of architecture100 are disposed in cloud 502 while others are not. By way of example,the data store that holds records 110 can be disposed outside of cloud502, and accessed through cloud 502. In another example, entityresolution system can also be outside of cloud 502. Regardless of wherethey are located, they can be accessed directly by device 504, through anetwork (either a wide area network or a local area network), they canbe hosted at a remote site by a service, or they can be provided as aservice through a cloud or accessed by a connection service that residesin the cloud. All of these architectures are contemplated herein.

It will also be noted that architecture 100, or portions of it, can bedisposed on a wide variety of different devices. Some of those devicesinclude servers, desktop computers, laptop computers, tablet computers,or other mobile devices, such as palm top computers, cell phones, smartphones, multimedia players, personal digital assistants, etc.

FIG. 5 is a simplified block diagram of one illustrative embodiment of ahandheld or mobile computing device that can be used as a user's orclient's hand held device 16, in which the present system (or parts ofit) can be deployed. FIGS. 6-7 are examples of handheld or mobiledevices.

FIG. 5 provides a general block diagram of the components of a clientdevice 16 that can run components of architecture 100 or that interactswith architecture 100, or both. In the device 16, a communications link13 is provided that allows the handheld device to communicate with othercomputing devices and under some embodiments provides a channel forreceiving information automatically, such as by scanning. Examples ofcommunications link 13 include an infrared port, a serial/USB port, acable network port such as an Ethernet port, and a wireless network portallowing communication though one or more communication protocolsincluding General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), LTE, HSPA, HSPA+ andother 3G and 4G radio protocols, 1Xrtt, and Short Message Service, whichare wireless services used to provide cellular access to a network, aswell as Wi-Fi protocols, and Bluetooth protocol, which provide localwireless connections to networks.

Under other embodiments, applications or systems are received on aremovable Secure Digital (SD) card that is connected to a SD cardinterface 15. SD card interface 15 and communication links 13communicate with a processor 17 (which can also embody processors orservers 140, or 147 from FIG. 1 or those in device 504) along a bus 19that is also connected to memory 21 and input/output (I/O) components23, as well as clock 25 and location system 27.

I/O components 23, in one embodiment, are provided to facilitate inputand output operations. I/O components 23 for various embodiments of thedevice 16 can include input components such as buttons, touch sensors,multi-touch sensors, optical or video sensors, voice sensors, touchscreens, proximity sensors, microphones, tilt sensors, and gravityswitches and output components such as a display device, a speaker, andor a printer port. Other I/O components 23 can be used as well.

Clock 25 illustratively comprises a real time clock component thatoutputs a time and date. It can also, illustratively, provide timingfunctions for processor 17.

Location system 27 illustratively includes a component that outputs acurrent geographical location of device 16. This can include, forinstance, a global positioning system (GPS) receiver, a LORAN system, adead reckoning system, a cellular triangulation system, or otherpositioning system. It can also include, for example, mapping softwareor navigation software that generates desired maps, navigation routesand other geographic functions.

Memory 21 stores operating system 29, network settings 31, applications33, application configuration settings 35, data store 37, communicationdrivers 39, and communication configuration settings 41. Memory 21 caninclude all types of tangible volatile and non-volatilecomputer-readable memory devices. It can also include computer storagemedia (described below). Memory 21 stores computer readable instructionsthat, when executed by processor 17, cause the processor to performcomputer-implemented steps or functions according to the instructions.Similarly, device 16 can have a client business system 24 which can runvarious business applications or embody parts or all of architecture100. Processor 17 can be activated by other components to facilitatetheir functionality as well.

Examples of the network settings 31 include things such as proxyinformation, Internet connection information, and mappings. Applicationconfiguration settings 35 include settings that tailor the applicationfor a specific enterprise or user. Communication configuration settings41 provide parameters for communicating with other computers and includeitems such as GPRS parameters, SMS parameters, connection user names andpasswords.

Applications 33 can be applications that have previously been stored onthe device 16 or applications that are installed during use, althoughthese can be part of operating system 29, or hosted external to device16, as well.

FIG. 6 shows one embodiment in which device 16 is a tablet computer 600.In FIG. 6, computer 600 is shown with user interface display displayedon the display screen 602. Screen 602 can be a touch screen (so touchgestures from a user's finger can be used to interact with theapplication) or a pen-enabled interface that receives inputs from a penor stylus. It can also use an on-screen virtual keyboard. Of course, itmight also be attached to a keyboard or other user input device througha suitable attachment mechanism, such as a wireless link or USB port,for instance. Computer 600 can also illustratively receive voice inputsas well.

Additional examples of devices 16 can also be used. Device 16 can be afeature phone, smart phone or mobile phone. The phone includes a set ofkeypads for dialing phone numbers, a display capable of displayingimages including application images, icons, web pages, photographs, andvideo, and control buttons for selecting items shown on the display. Thephone can include an antenna for receiving cellular phone signals suchas General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) and 1Xrtt, and Short MessageService (SMS) signals. In some embodiments, the phone also includes aSecure Digital (SD) card slot that accepts a SD card.

The mobile device can also be a personal digital assistant (PDA) or amultimedia player or a tablet computing device, etc. (hereinafterreferred to as PDA). The PDA can include an inductive screen that sensesthe position of a stylus (or other pointers, such as a user's finger)when the stylus is positioned over the screen. This allows the user toselect, highlight, and move items on the screen as well as draw andwrite. The PDA also includes a number of user input keys or buttonswhich allow the user to scroll through menu options or other displayoptions which are displayed on the display, and allow the user to changeapplications or select user input functions, without contacting thedisplay. Although not shown, the PDA can include an internal antenna andan infrared transmitter/receiver that allow for wireless communicationwith other computers as well as connection ports that allow for hardwareconnections to other computing devices. Such hardware connections aretypically made through a cradle that connects to the other computerthrough a serial or USB port. As such, these connections are non-networkconnections.

FIG. 7 shows that the phone can be a smart phone 71. Smart phone 71 hasa touch sensitive display 73 that displays icons or tiles or other userinput mechanisms 75. Mechanisms 75 can be used by a user to runapplications, make calls, perform data transfer operations, etc. Ingeneral, smart phone 71 is built on a mobile operating system and offersmore advanced computing capability and connectivity than a featurephone.

Note that other forms of the devices 16 are possible.

FIG. 8 is one embodiment of a computing environment in whicharchitecture 100, or parts of it, (for example) can be deployed. Withreference to FIG. 8, an exemplary system for implementing someembodiments includes a general-purpose computing device in the form of acomputer 810. Components of computer 810 may include, but are notlimited to, a processing unit 820 (which can comprise processors orservers 140 or those in device 504), a system memory 830, and a systembus 821 that couples various system components including the systemmemory to the processing unit 820. The system bus 821 may be any ofseveral types of bus structures including a memory bus or memorycontroller, a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety ofbus architectures. By way of example, and not limitation, sucharchitectures include Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, MicroChannel Architecture (MCA) bus, Enhanced ISA (EISA) bus, VideoElectronics Standards Association (VESA) local bus, and PeripheralComponent Interconnect (PCI) bus also known as Mezzanine bus. Memory andprograms described with respect to FIG. 1 can be deployed incorresponding portions of FIG. 8.

Computer 810 typically includes a variety of computer readable media.Computer readable media can be any available media that can be accessedby computer 810 and includes both volatile and nonvolatile media,removable and non-removable media. By way of example, and notlimitation, computer readable media may comprise computer storage mediaand communication media. Computer storage media is different from, anddoes not include, a modulated data signal or carrier wave. It includeshardware storage media including both volatile and nonvolatile,removable and non-removable media implemented in any method ortechnology for storage of information such as computer readableinstructions, data structures, program modules or other data. Computerstorage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flashmemory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD)or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape,magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any othermedium which can be used to store the desired information and which canbe accessed by computer 810. Communication media typically embodiescomputer readable instructions, data structures, program modules orother data in a transport mechanism and includes any informationdelivery media. The term “modulated data signal” means a signal that hasone or more of its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as toencode information in the signal. By way of example, and not limitation,communication media includes wired media such as a wired network ordirect-wired connection, and wireless media such as acoustic, RF,infrared and other wireless media. Combinations of any of the aboveshould also be included within the scope of computer readable media.

The system memory 830 includes computer storage media in the form ofvolatile and/or nonvolatile memory such as read only memory (ROM) 831and random access memory (RAM) 832. A basic input/output system 833(BIOS), containing the basic routines that help to transfer informationbetween elements within computer 810, such as during start-up, istypically stored in ROM 831. RAM 832 typically contains data and/orprogram modules that are immediately accessible to and/or presentlybeing operated on by processing unit 820. By way of example, and notlimitation, FIG. 8 illustrates operating system 834, applicationprograms 835, other program modules 836, and program data 837.

The computer 810 may also include other removable/non-removablevolatile/nonvolatile computer storage media. By way of example only,FIG. 8 illustrates a hard disk drive 841 that reads from or writes tonon-removable, nonvolatile magnetic media, and an optical disk drive 855that reads from or writes to a removable, nonvolatile optical disk 856such as a CD ROM or other optical media. Other removable/non-removable,volatile/nonvolatile computer storage media that can be used in theexemplary operating environment include, but are not limited to,magnetic tape cassettes, flash memory cards, digital versatile disks,digital video tape, solid state RAM, solid state ROM, and the like. Thehard disk drive 841 is typically connected to the system bus 821 througha non-removable memory interface such as interface 840, and optical diskdrive 855 are typically connected to the system bus 821 by a removablememory interface, such as interface 850.

Alternatively, or in addition, the functionality described herein can beperformed, at least in part, by one or more hardware logic components.For example, and without limitation, illustrative types of hardwarelogic components that can be used include Field-programmable Gate Arrays(FPGAs), Program-specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Program-specificStandard Products (ASSPs), System-on-a-chip systems (SOCs), ComplexProgrammable Logic Devices (CPLDs), etc.

The drives and their associated computer storage media discussed aboveand illustrated in FIG. 8, provide storage of computer readableinstructions, data structures, program modules and other data for thecomputer 810. In FIG. 8, for example, hard disk drive 841 is illustratedas storing operating system 844, application programs 845, other programmodules 846, and program data 847. Note that these components can eitherbe the same as or different from operating system 834, applicationprograms 835, other program modules 836, and program data 837. Operatingsystem 844, application programs 845, other program modules 846, andprogram data 847 are given different numbers here to illustrate that, ata minimum, they are different copies.

A user may enter commands and information into the computer 810 throughinput devices such as a keyboard 862, a microphone 863, and a pointingdevice 861, such as a mouse, trackball or touch pad. Other input devices(not shown) may include a joystick, game pad, satellite dish, scanner,or the like. These and other input devices are often connected to theprocessing unit 820 through a user input interface 860 that is coupledto the system bus, but may be connected by other interface and busstructures, such as a parallel port, game port or a universal serial bus(USB). A visual display 891 or other type of display device is alsoconnected to the system bus 821 via an interface, such as a videointerface 890. In addition to the monitor, computers may also includeother peripheral output devices such as speakers 897 and printer 896,which may be connected through an output peripheral interface 895.

The computer 810 is operated in a networked environment using logicalconnections to one or more remote computers, such as a remote computer880. The remote computer 880 may be a personal computer, a hand-helddevice, a server, a router, a network PC, a peer device or other commonnetwork node, and typically includes many or all of the elementsdescribed above relative to the computer 810. The logical connectionsdepicted in FIG. 8 include a local area network (LAN) 871 and a widearea network (WAN) 873, but may also include other networks. Suchnetworking environments are commonplace in offices, enterprise-widecomputer networks, intranets and the Internet.

When used in a LAN networking environment, the computer 810 is connectedto the LAN 871 through a network interface or adapter 870. When used ina WAN networking environment, the computer 810 typically includes amodem 872 or other means for establishing communications over the WAN873, such as the Internet. The modem 872, which may be internal orexternal, may be connected to the system bus 821 via the user inputinterface 860, or other appropriate mechanism. In a networkedenvironment, program modules depicted relative to the computer 810, orportions thereof, may be stored in the remote memory storage device. Byway of example, and not limitation, FIG. 8 illustrates remoteapplication programs 885 as residing on remote computer 880. It will beappreciated that the network connections shown are exemplary and othermeans of establishing a communications link between the computers may beused.

It should also be noted that the different embodiments described hereincan be combined in different ways. That is, parts of one or moreembodiments can be combined with parts of one or more other embodiments.All of this is contemplated herein.

Example 1 is a computing system, comprising:

a record tokenizer that receives first and second records, each recordincluding an item identifier that identifies an item that is a subjectof the record and a set of attributes, the tokenizer normalizing thefirst and second records to obtain corresponding first and second entitytokens, each entity token representing the item identifier andattributes in the corresponding record in a normalized form; and

a record matcher that compares the first entity token to the secondentity token to identify a similarity measure and provide a match resultindicative of whether the first and second records resolve to a sameitem as their subject, based on the similarity measure.

Example 2 is the computing system of any or all previous examples andfurther comprising:

a record update component that receives the match result and updates arecord of items based on the match result.

Example 3 is the computing system of any or all previous exampleswherein the update component is configured to, in response to the matchresult indicating that the first and second records resolve to the sameitem, aggregate a superset of the attributes in the first and secondrecords and update the same item in the record of items based on thesuperset of attributes.

Example 4 is the computing system of any or all previous exampleswherein the record matcher accesses a set of previously learnedresolutions to identify whether a previously learned resolutionindicates that the first and second entity tokens resolve to the sameitem.

Example 5 is the computing system of any or all previous examples andfurther comprising:

a supervised machine learning system that provides the set of previouslylearned resolutions.

Example 6 is the computing system of any or all previous exampleswherein the record matcher is configured to provide the match result tothe supervised machine learning system to update the previously learnedresolutions.

Example 7 is the computing system of any or all previous exampleswherein the record matcher is configured to select the first and secondrecords from a record block and, in response to the match resultindicating that the first and second records do not resolve to the sameitem, access a wide area network search engine to launch a wide areanetwork search, using the first entity token as a search input, andobtain search results, the search results being added to the recordblock as records to be tokenized by the tokenizer and compared using therecord matcher.

Example 8is the computing system of any or all previous examples andfurther comprising:

a partition component that receives an input record set and thatpartitions the input record set into blocks based on partitioningcriteria.

Example 9 is the computing system of any or all previous exampleswherein the partition component partitions the input record set into theblocks based on geographic location information contained in each recordin the input record set.

Example 10 is the computing system of any or all previous exampleswherein the record matcher comprises:

a vector generator that generates a similarity vector with vector valuescorresponding to each attribute in the normalized form, the vectorvalues being indicative of whether the corresponding attributes in thefirst and second entity tokens match one another, the similarity measurebeing based on the vector values.

Example 11 is the computing system of any or all previous exampleswherein the record matcher comprises:

a threshold component that identifies whether the similarity measuremeets a threshold value and, if so, provides the match result toindicate that the first and second records resolve to the same item.

Example 12 is the computing system of any or all previous exampleswherein the record matcher comprises:

a weighting component that identifies weights for each vector value andgenerates the similarity measure based on a weighted combination of thevector values.

Example 13 is the computing system of any or all previous examples andfurther comprising:

a plurality of different business subsystems, each having a record set,the record sets from the plurality of different business subsystemscomprising the input record set.

Example 14 is a method, comprising:

obtaining an input record set from a plurality of different datasources, the record set including a plurality of different records, eachrecord including an item identifier that identifies an item that isdescribed by the record and a set of attributes that relate to the item,the records being in different forms;

normalizing the plurality of different records into correspondingnormalized forms;

comparing the normalized forms to generate a match result indicative ofwhether the plurality of different records describe a same item;

updating a record store based on the match result.

Example 15 is the method of any or all previous examples whereincomparing further comprises:

accessing a set of previously learned matches, learned by a supervisedmachine learning system;

determining whether the set of previously learned matches includes amatch result for the plurality of different records corresponding to thenormalized forms compared.

Example 16 is the method of claim 14 and further comprising:

if the match result indicates that the plurality of different records donot describe the same item, then launching a web search using at least apart of at least one of the normalized forms;

receiving search results; and

adding at least some of the search results to the input record set fornormalizing and comparing.

Example 17 is the method of any or all previous examples whereinobtaining the input record set comprises:

obtaining the input record set from a plurality of different subsystemsin a business system.

Example 18 is the method of any or all previous examples whereincomparing comprises:

identifying a similarity of the attributes in the normalized formscorresponding to two of the records;

generating a similarity vector having vector values corresponding to theattributes, the vector values being indicative of the similarity of thecorresponding attributes;

generating a similarity measure based on the vector values; and

generating the match result based on the similarity measure.

Example 19 is an entity resolution system, comprising:

a partition component that receives an input record set that includesrecords from a plurality of different data sources and partitions theinput record set into blocks based on partition criteria, each recordrelating to an entity; and

an entity matching component that selects first and second records froma given block, and outputs a match result indicative of whether thefirst and second records resolve to a same entity, wherein the entitymatching component normalizes the records into corresponding normalizedforms, determines whether previously learned resolutions are found forthe normalized forms corresponding to the first and second records and,if not, compares the normalized forms to determine whether they meet asimilarity threshold and, if not, uses at least a portion of at leastone normalized form to generate a web search and obtain search results,the entity matching component adding at least some of the search resultsto the given block for later selection by the entity matching component.

Example 20 is the entity resolution system of any or all previousexamples wherein the first and second records contain attributes, andfurther comprising:

a record update component that updates an entity record with theattributes from the first and second records in response to the matchresult indicating that the first and second records resolve to the sameentity.

Although the subject matter has been described in language specific tostructural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understoodthat the subject matter defined in the appended claims is notnecessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above.Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed asexample forms of implementing the claims.

1. A computing system, comprising: at least one processor; memory,operatively connected to the at least one processor and containingincluding instructions that, when executed by the at least oneprocessor, perform a method, the method to at least: receive first andsecond records; normalize the first and second records to obtaincorresponding first and second entity tokens; determine, based on atleast the first and second entity tokens a match result indicative ofwhether the first and second records resolve to a same item; and inresponse to the match result indicating that the first and secondrecords do not resolve to the same item, obtain a search result, basedon at least one of the first and second entity tokens, the search resultbeing added as a record to be processed by the computing system.
 2. Thecomputing system of claim 1 and further comprising; a record updatecomponent that receives the match result and updates a record of itemsbased on the match result.
 3. The computing system of claim 2 whereinthe record update component is configured to, in response to the matchresult indicating that the first and second records resolve to the sameitem, aggregate a superset of the attributes in the first and secondrecords and update the same item in the record of items based on thesuperset of attributes.
 4. The computing system of claim 3 wherein themethod further comprises accessing a set of previously learnedresolutions to identify whether a previously learned resolutionindicates that the first and second entity tokens resolve to the sameitem.
 5. The computing system of claim 4 and further comprising; asupervised machine learning system that provides the set of previouslylearned resolutions.
 6. The computing, system of claim 5 wherein themethod further comprises providing the match result to the supervisedmachine learning system to update the previously learned resolutions. 7.The computing system of claim 1 and further comprising: a partitioncomponent that receives and input record set and that partitions theinput record set into blocks based on partitioning criteria.
 8. Thecomputing system of claim 7 wherein the partition component partitionsthe input record set into blocks based on geographic locationinformation contained in each record in the input record set.
 9. Thecomputing system of claim 8 and further comprising: a plurality ofdifferent business subsystems, each having a record set, the record setsfrom the plurality of different business subsystems comprising the inputrecord set.
 10. The computing system of claim 1 wherein each of thefirst and second records includes an attribute of the subject of therecord.
 11. The computing system of claim 10 and further comprising: avector generator that generates a similarity vector with vector valuescorresponding to each attribute in a normalized form, the vector valuesbeing indicative of whether the corresponding attributes in a first andsecond entity tokens match one another.
 12. The computing system ofclaim 11 and further comprising: a threshold component that identifieswhether a similarity measure meets a threshold value and, if so,provides the match result to indicate that the first and second recordsresolve to the same item.
 13. The computing system of claim 12 andfurther comprising: a weighting component that identifies weights foreach vector value and generates the similarity measure based on aweighted combination of the vector values.
 14. A method, comprising:obtaining a plurality of records from different data sources, eachrecord including an item identifier that identifies an item that isdescribed by the record and an attribute that relates to the item;comparing a first record of the plurality of records to a second recordof the plurality of records to generate a match result indicative ofwhether the first and second records describe a same item; if the matchresult indicates that the first and second records do not describe thesame item, initiating a search using at least a portion of at least oneof the first and second records; receiving a search result, and addingthe search result to the plurality of records for comparing.
 15. Themethod of claim 14 wherein comparing further comprises: accessing a setor previously learned matches, learned by a supervised machine learningsystem; determining whether the set of previously learned matchesincludes a match result for the first and second records correspondingto normalized forms of the first and second records.
 16. The method ofclaim 15 and further comprising: if the match result indicates that dieplurality of different records do not describe the same item, thenlaunching a web search using at least a part of at least one of thenormalized forms; receiving search results; and adding at least some ofthe search results to the input record set for normalizing andcomparing.
 17. The method of claim 15 wherein comparing comprises:identifying a similarity of attributes in the normalized formscorresponding to the first and second records; generating a similarityvector having vector values corresponding to the attributes, the vectorvalues being indicative of the similarity of the correspondingattributes; generating a similarity measure based on the vector values;and generating the match result based on the similarity measure.
 18. Themethod of claim 14 wherein obtaining the plurality of records comprises:obtaining the plurality of records from different subsystems in abusiness system.
 19. An entity resolution system, comprising: apartition component that receives an input record set that includesrecords from a plurality of different data sources and partitions theinput record set into blocks based on partition criteria, each recordrelating to an entity; and an entity matching component that selectsfirst and second records from a block, and outputs a match resultindicative of whether the first and second records resolve to a sameentity, wherein the entity matching determines whether previouslylearned resolutions are found for the first and second records and, ifnot, compares the first and second records to determine whether thefirst and second records meet a similarity threshold and, if not, usesat least a portion of one of the first and second records to generate asearch and obtain a search result, the entity matching component addingthe search result to the block for selection by the entity matchingcomponent.
 20. The entity resolution system of claim 19 wherein thefirst and second records contain attributes, and further comprising; arecord update component that updates an entity record with theattributes from the first and second records in response to the matchresult indicating that the first and second records resolve to the sameentity.